


Elder Sign

by Kivea



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arkham Horror, Board Games, Cryle Week, Cthulhu Mythos, Horror, Hospitals, Injury, Lovecraftian Monster(s), M/M, Monsters, just in the sense there's monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24202984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kivea/pseuds/Kivea
Summary: Day 6: Nightmare/GamesIt was a living nightmare. They were in a living nightmare. Between the monsters that rampaged through the streets and the skies, to the madness that riddled the brains of people he once considered friends, Kyle wasn’t sure how they’d managed to hold on to their own sanity.There was an elder god slumbering below their city, and with each day it grew closer to waking up.
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Craig Tucker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29
Collections: Cryle Week 2020





	Elder Sign

It was a living nightmare. 

Kyle choked out as he stumbled from the eerie mist, legs buckling under his weight. His knees hit the cold floor and he sucked in breath after breath in an attempt to refill his lungs with fresh air. Or, as fresh as the air got in Arkham. 

He heard the rattle of stone hitting the floor. The light of the gate had disappeared. He turned round to see a circular sign on the floor, waiting for him to collect. 

“Are you alright?” 

He looked up, seeing a familiar face approaching, and breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Do you need anything?” 

“No,” he attempted to push himself to his feet, but he was still wobbly after the jump between worlds. Warm hands wrapped round his arm and his shoulders, keeping him steady and bringing him to a stand. “I’m fine. I sealed the gate.” 

“We’re not far off.” 

“How many signs do we have?” 

“Seven, last time I checked in with the others. This brings us up to eight. We can take you to the hospital to rest if you need it?” 

“I’m fine, Craig. We’re close. We shouldn’t stop, unless we absolutely have to.” 

“Alright. Lead the way.” 

It was a living nightmare. They were in a living nightmare. Between the monsters that rampaged through the streets and the skies, to the madness that riddled the brains of people he once considered friends, Kyle wasn’t sure how they’d managed to hold on to their own sanity. How they managed to keep fighting. Fighting against time. Fighting to prevent the worst. 

There was an elder god slumbering below their city, and with each day it grew closer to waking up. 

At first it seemed hopeless. They didn’t know what to do, how to act. Didn’t know how they were supposed to seal the gates that were opening up around the city; doorways to a strange world. Some had been lost in there already, trying to crack the code. Trying to find an answer in the madness. 

An answer was found at a great cost. 

There were a handful of them who attempted to continue to the research to end the horror. Below the old police station was an alter to these gods and a pit that seemed endless. After some time studying it and ancient texts found across the tunnels below the city, the old Doctor Mephesto discovered an answer. A potential out. 

But it involved a lot of fighting. Fighting things that were beyond their comprehension. It involved entering the strange gates that lead to a foreign plane of existence and closing them. It involved things that cost them their minds and bodies. 

Kyle picked up the Elder Sign that had been created once he closed the gate, fitting in the palm of his hand comfortably. Craig moved up behind him, looking over his shoulder at the offending article. 

It filled him with fear, but he knew they needed them to prevent the Elder God from awaking. 

He felt a wave of dizziness, nearly dropping the stone as he stumbled back into the man behind him, who was quick to act. He fell back against a sturdy chest and felt a hand wrap round his own to stop him dropping the stone. 

Neither of them wanted to break it. No one knew what happened when you did, and they didn’t want to find out. 

“Careful.” 

“Sorry,” Kyle mumbled. “I guess it took more out of me than I thought.” 

“Hospital it is.” 

“Craig-!” 

“No,” the voice was firm in his ear. “No arguments. We’re close, and that means we can’t fuck it up now, alright?” 

He couldn’t argue with that. 

Craig Tucker was his protection. His guide through the streets on his way to collecting the signs they so desperately needed. The man with the shotgun and the steely nerve to stare a monstrous winged creature in the face while pumping led into its body. He was savvy, and iron-willed, and strong. 

They complimented each other well. The brains and the brawn. The researcher and the hired gun. 

Craig attempted to avoid the creatures that plagued their streets on the way to the hospital. He led them down short alleys to dodge streets they could see cultists gathering in. Took well-lit streets that they marked on a mental map as ‘safe’. 

They arrived at the hospital without incident. A practiced routine. He would hope after so long they were good at what they did. 

“Here, we’ll rest the night,” Craig suggested. “Then we can keep going tomorrow.” 

“Thanks. You didn’t…run into any trouble while I was gone, did you?” 

Craig’s jaw tightened. 

“What?” 

“Stan had to go to the asylum.” 

He turned down to the floor, air escaping his lungs. “Oh.” 

“It…won’t be for long, I don’t think. They’re good. They’ll have him back out in the fight in no time.” 

Kyle nodded. “Good.” 

It didn’t feel good. 

It felt like his heart was breaking in his chest. 

He wished there was more he could do. 

They settled themselves to staying the night in the hospital, the few nurses left showing them to the ward that was reserved for their group. Craig took the chance to fix a couple of his own wounds up while Kyle rested; scratches and marks from fighting while Kyle was through a gate. 

Kyle always wondered what it was like, when Craig was here on his own. The idea of traversing the ravaged streets alone shook him, if he was honest. He had done it at the start, before convincing Craig that they could be more successful as a team than individuals, and he couldn’t imagine going back to it. 

Staring a beast in the face as its claws clutched his chest, everything about it so alien it made his mind spin. The sight, the scent, the feel. 

The first time he saw something, he didn’t think it was real. 

“Hey.” 

He jumped, looking over at the man who had knocked the side of his bed. “Huh?” 

“Stop it,” dark brows were pulled together. “Else I’ll be taking you to the asylum after this.” 

“God no,” Kyle shivered at the thought. “That place gives me the creeps.” 

The last thing his resolve needed was to see his best friend before the man got better. 

Maybe Craig wondered what Kyle did when he was in the other world. He didn’t think the man had ever gone through a gate. Never dared to cross to the other side, risking being lost in time and space. Chose to fight on a physical plane. 

He fell asleep thinking of a gun-wielding man standing one against many; an unwavering shield that was constant. Ever present. Unstoppable in the face of the horrors that they’d come to see more often than other people. 

He felt his sanity drain that little bit more. 

\--

When he woke, Craig wasn’t there. 

Not that he was expecting it, but he did call out in his sleep addled state to make sure the man was okay. Once he was a bit more awake he realised how embarrassing it was that his first reaction was to call out for someone. A specific someone. 

Craig entered the hospital room, expression giving nothing away, with someone behind him. 

“Hey!” a smile split across his face. “Clyde, dude, how’re you?” 

The wide grin he got in return worked wonders for his morale. “Good! Good, I’m just kickin’ ass and takin’ names. How about you? Craig told me that you’d got another sign!” 

“I have,” Kyle nodded with a smile. “Two left, yeah?” 

“Maybe one! Token went through a gate last night. Hopefully by tonight he’ll be out.” 

He felt a rush at the knowledge that they were so close. “We’re really gonna do this. We’re gonna stop it.” 

“I think so,” Clyde agreed. “How’re you feeling?” 

“I’m feeling fine. Ready to get that final piece.” 

“You’re staying here,” Craig pressed with a scowl and his arms folded across his chest. “Until I say you’re well enough to go back in the field.” 

Kyle huffed. “C’mon, I’m fine! I’ve rested!” 

“Not enough you haven’t.” 

“He’s always been a mother hen,” Clyde whispered, loud enough for them both to hear. He laughed as his friend elbowed him in the side. 

Clyde stayed with them for a little while longer, him and Craig sorting out their weapons together while he chattered away in the hospital room, talking about his most recent victory. Kyle remembered a time where Clyde crumbled under the weight of their new reality. Seeing him come out with a flourish was… 

Honestly inspiring. 

By nightfall they were interrupted. 

Butters came stumbling through with a shout of panic, carrying another man on his shoulders, dark hair and skin against Butter’s pale complexion. 

Token. 

Craig and Clyde rushed to help him carry their friend to one of the beds, careful as they moved. Kyle was out of bed in a matter of seconds to inspect the damage with Butters. 

“He was fighting when I got there,” Butters advised. “But he didn’t win. I think he was already damaged, from getting back out of a gate. He has a sign on him.” 

“Shit,” Clyde choked out. “I should’ve-!” 

Kyle cut him off. “Should’ve nothing, Clyde. Don’t go down that road.” 

The road of guilt. 

It was one that they all struggled with. 

Kyle followed Butters’ lead as they began to attempt to bandage Token up, Clyde rushing away to see if he could find a nurse to assist them. The brown eyes were closed, eyelids unmoving as the man lay unconscious on the bed. Kyle pressed a hand to his forehead as Butters worked on cleaning up the gash on his left leg. 

“It’s alright,” he murmured, forcing a smile on his face to keep his tone light, holding the back of his hand in front of Token’s mouth to check his breathing. “We’ll get you patched up in no time.” 

Two nurses appeared and took over, though Butters stayed by their side to offer support. Kyle moved to stand with the two others in the room, clapping Clyde on the shoulder and pulling his eyes away from the scene on the bed. 

“He’ll be alright, Clyde.” 

The brunette gave a skittish nod, but didn’t respond. 

He was sympathetic to it. To the fear that was in Clyde’s eyes, and the way tears welled and threatened to fall. He remembered being in this very room, Stan holding him as he wept over Kenny the first time he was here, bandaged and bruised, chest barely lifting. 

Kyle turned to Craig. “We have to go.” 

It was clear he didn’t agree, but didn’t have much of a choice anymore. The sound of the nurses bustling around the wounded man on the bed was too much to ignore. 

“We’ll find another gate,” Kyle assured as he met Clyde’s wide eyes again. “And then that’ll be it.” 

“It’d be nice,” Clyde croaked out. “If when Token woke up, it was to some good news.” 

He gave a tight smile. “It will be.” 

Butters interrupted them. “You got one?” 

“Yeah,” Craig spoke up. “He did. We need one more, and we’re done.” 

“There’s a gate that opened at the Graveyard,” the blonde advised. “I’d stock up, Craig. I dunno if by the time you get there a couple of monsters might’a< come through.” 

“Thanks, dude.” 

Kyle consoled Clyde as Butters helped Craig prepare, offering him the holy water that he’d been saving. Telling Craig that he wouldn’t need it, if they were successful. 

“Put it to good use now!” he said, that hopeful smile wide on his face. “We’re counting on ya’!” 

“I will.” 

They set off towards Rivertown, where the Graveyard would be, with the memory of Token fresh in their mind. With Butters’ kind words, and Clyde’s fear. Passed the Asylum where they knew Stan was, trying to heal. 

Craig pressed a hand to his back as they did. It spurred him forward. 

\--

Butters’ prediction had been correct. A couple of monsters had arrived through the gate. Kyle felt his stomach sink as soon as he heard the unholy screech of one of them echoing far, heart picking up once they were close enough to see. 

A zombie; fitting for their location. A Shan; flying beast that Kyle was quick to look away from. And then... 

“Oh, shit.” 

He saw it rise up, owning the field with more intensity than the others. A third horror, teeth glinting as a long, wet tongue flicked out, lapping at the night air. His blood ran cold. He struggled to breathe. 

“God of the Bloody Tongue,” Craig whispered beside him. 

“We need a plan,” Kyle’s brain kickstarted into overdrive. “Together, we should be able to take him down. Did we bring any medicine, or a first aid kit? After the fight, we can spend the day patching up. Dawn should be with us soon, so it’ll make it easier to patch up before I go through-?!” 

“I’ll take them,” Craig assured. “You just get through the gate.” 

“What?!” Kyle startled as he spun round. “You can’t be serious?!” 

The straight-faced look told him he was. 

“There’s three monsters, you can’t go up against them! One of them is-?!” 

“I know, alright? But you need to get to that gate, and I can provide a distraction.” 

Kyle continued to stare at the man, horrified by the suggestion. 

“Once you’ve closed the gate, we’ll be done. It’ll be over.” 

“No, we should do it together! I can’t abandon you to-?!” 

“We’re so close, Kyle,” Craig’s voice turned desperate in a way he wasn’t used to hearing. “I’m not going to risk you getting hurt instead of finishing this when we can.” 

“What if I don’t succeed?” 

Craig finally looked at him, unblinking. After a few moments, he smirked. “When have you ever not succeeded?” 

He didn’t have a response. 

“I’m going to go in. Once I do, it’ll give you an opening to sneak by.” 

There were a thousand things he wanted to ask. A thousand things he wanted to say to try and convince Craig not to do it, but he couldn’t bring himself to say any of them. Because he knew that this was the right thing to do. The only option they had in that moment. 

“Should we…wait for you to have backup?” 

“No. We’re doing this now.” 

Ever since he started traversing the gates, he always had the knowledge that Craig would be on the other side waiting for him. The comfort to drive him forward to the end. The person he’d become so close to. Now… 

Now he had to come to terms with the fact that when he got went through the gate, there was a good chance that when he came out, Craig wouldn’t be there. 

He took a moment to think about his plan, to plan it in his mind. To look at the monsters Craig was about to face up against. To try to decide how to have their goodbye. What did you say to someone you expected to die? 

Was there anything he needed to say? To admit? 

His last chance to confess his undying love, perhaps? 

“Cartman!” Kyle snapped his gaze away from Craig, turning to the game master with a beat-red face. “What the fuck?!” 

The rest of the boys round the table in the basement of the Cartman household groaned as the the illusion of the world they were building was shattered, though opposite the table Craig looked just as annoyed by the game master’s probing, glaring daggers at the head seat. 

“What?” Cartman asked, innocent as ever sat in front of the rows of cards that built up the game. “I’m just using some story-telling prompts, it’s harmless.” 

“No, there’s nothing I need to say.” 

“Are you sure? Nothing at all?” 

“Back off, fatass.” 

He held up his hands in defence. “Nothing wrong with a little harmless love-subplot to create some drama. Your characters have worked well together in this hell, bonded over fighting the dark powers that threaten Arkham.” 

Stan spoke up from next to Kyle. “Drop it, Cartman. It’s not gonna be today.” 

Kyle kicked his best friend in the shin. Hard. 

“Can I stab myself in the throat?” Craig drawled from across the table. “Will that move this story along faster? Because if it would, I will.” 

“I’ll shoot him, for the _drama_ ,” Kyle suggested. “My words are that a bit of blood might lure the monsters over and shoot him.” 

“I feel like we’re getting off topic,” Token said, attempting to get them back on track. “Craig distracts so Kyle can take his collected clue tokens through to the Abyss and seal the gate. He needs an encounter card.” 

Cartman heaved an all too dramatic sigh before withdrawing a card. “Fine, fine. We can finish the game, if you’re that desperate. Excuse me for trying to make a more enjoyable story for you all.” 

It was difficult to get back into character after that. 

Kyle stumbled through his first encounter, while Craig took his now lacklustre attitude to his fight and killed two monsters before losing to the God of the Bloody Tongue. Clyde, who was the closest on the board, decided to come along for the glory moment of defeating the final monster, looking up with a big grin to announce at least Kyle would have the most charming of them on the other side waiting for him. 

It brightened the mood a bit. 

He successfully got through the final encounter and they won the game. It was enough to completely break the tension and return things to normal after his outburst and Cartman’s meddling. Cartman, who declared someone had to stay and tidy up after he let them all hang out in his basement. 

Craig was the first to stand up and flip the boy off. “Fuck you, clean up your own basement.” 

“I can’t,” Kyle spoke. “Mom asked me to be home by seven for dinner, I don’t wanna be late.” 

The others all accepted this and moved to start tidying up. Kyle grabbed his jacket and tried not to be too pleased that Craig was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs instead of leaving the basement alone. 

“Gosh, is that the time?” Butters started as he checked his phone at Kyle’s words. “I probably oughta go too-!” 

“No yet, Butters,” Kenny advised, hand landing on his shoulder. “Read the room. We’re letting them go just the two of them. Give it ten minutes, then you can go.” 

Kyle rolled his eyes and decided the best course of action was to grab his bag and get the fuck out of there. He glanced up at Craig, who was scowling at Kenny as he waited for Kyle to take the stairs first. 

They left the basement with minimal damage to their egos. Liane did her usual overly friendly goodbye as they passed her in the living room, making Craig speed up and crowd round Kyle to push him out the front door. It never failed to amuse him just how uncomfortable she could make the tall boy. 

“His mom’s a fucking creep. I don’t care what Clyde says,” Craig growled out as Kyle laughed at his enthusiasm to leave. 

“It’s just Cartman’s mom, dude.” 

“Yeah, exactly.” 

They made it to the end of the driveway and came to a stop, turning as the point where they would have to part ways, Kyle to two houses down, Craig down the street the opposite direction. Their eyes met and he felt that usual need to force the conversation to keep going. To look for an excuse to stay standing there. 

“Sorry about Cartman,” Kyle muttered. “He’s…yeah.” 

“Sure,” Craig shrugged it off. “He’s Cartman. I get it.” 

“Yeah.” 

They stood, not quite meeting each other’s gaze, feeling the air getting heavier. 

“I should-!” 

“Do you wanna-?” 

Kyle snapped his jaw shut, looking up with wide eyes. “Do I wanna…?” 

Craig shook his head. “No, what were you…?” 

“Just that I should head back,” Kyle explained as he gestured over his shoulder. “But you were gonna ask something?” 

“Just if you…wanted to play Borderlands tomorrow or something?” 

“Oh!” he forced a smile on his face, ignoring the way his heart sank. “Right.” 

“You don’t have to.” 

“No! No, I’d like to, I just – it wasn’t what I was expecting – not that I was expecting anything,” he cleared his throat and forced himself to stop talking. “Borderland’s. It’ll be fun.” 

“Yeah. I’ll…let you go.” 

“Sure. Talk to you tomorrow?” 

A genuine smile crossed Craig’s face. “Yeah, talk to you tomorrow.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to actually write a full Elder God AU, but decided that during Cryle Week probably wasn't the time as it would need to be pretty long and involved, so went for something a little more along my usual trends.


End file.
